Healthy(ish?) Birthday Cake??

For healthy desserts, I've been going crazy for everything I'm finding at www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com. Some of her recipes are a little bizarre, but I am obsessed with her cookie dough dip! Maybe you can find something on there you can use? Good luck!

Chocolate Cake (from Cook Yourself Thin)

Serves 6
Calories per serving: 315

Nonstick baking spray with flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 6-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep) with baking spray.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on low speed until well combined, about 1 minute. With mixer running on medium speed, add warm water and beat until well blended. Add buttermilk, egg, oil and vanilla, and beat on medium for 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.

3. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on the rack.

4. When ready to serve, place the bittersweet chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan set over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge. Immediately pour over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth and well blended. Pour over cooled cake and spread to evenly coat top. (Chocolate sauce will drip down the sides.) Let set, about 10 minutes, and serve.


Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade with Raspberry Sauce (Cook Yourself Thin)
Serves 9
Calories per serving, roulade: 190
Calories per serving, raspberry sauce: 26

For the roulade
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting the pan
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted, plus more for serving
3/4 cup peeled and finely grated carrots
3/4 cup self-rising flour, sifted

For the filling
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raspberries

For the raspberry sauce
1 1/2 cups raspberries
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut a piece of parchment paper to the size of 9-x-13-inch jelly roll pan and dust with some sifted confectioners’ sugar. Set aside.

3. Take 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and add to a bowl with egg whites, along with the salt. Using a handheld or standing mixer, whip the egg whites, gradually adding the sugar and salt until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Take care not to overmix, as the egg whites will become grainy. Set aside.

4. Add the remaining granulated sugar to the egg yolks and whisk about 3 minutes, until mixture is pale and fluffy and holds a ribbon trail when you lift the blades. Add the sifted cocoa powder to the yolk/sugar mixture one tablespoon at a time, whisking it until fully incorporated before adding the next. Once all the cocoa powder is well-combined, add the grated carrots and mix well to incorporate.

5. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg white mixture, one-third at a time, into the yolk mixture, taking care not to deflate the mix. Add the sifted flour into the mixture as you add the last third of the egg whites. Fold as before until all the elements are well-combined with no pockets of flour left.

6. Pour the batter into the center of the jelly roll pan and tilt it to spread the batter evenly all over the pan, making sure it goes all the way into the corners. Do not pat or knock on the pan, as this will deflate the batter. Bake for 10 minutes.

7. While the cake is baking, make the filling. Using a handheld or standing mixer, beat the heavy cream for about 30 seconds. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract, and continue to beat until you get stiff peaks. Once ready, refrigerate until needed.

8. To assemble the cake, lay a clean kitchen towel on a flat, even surface and place a piece of parchment paper the size of the cake on top of the towel. Once the cake is cooked, working quickly, remove it from the oven and run a paring knife along the edges of the jelly roll pan to help unmold the cake. Take the cake from the edges and flip it onto the parchment paper set on top of the kitchen towel. Peel off the parchment paper.

9. Starting at one end of the towel, roll the cake into a cigar shape, rolling it tightly into a classic jelly roll shape. Continue rolling until the cake is rolled and tucked inside the kitchen towel. Let it stand for 15 to 20 minutes to cool and semi-set in a snail shape while you make the raspberry sauce.

10. To make the raspberry sauce: Add the raspberries, confectioners’ sugar and water to a nonstick saute pan, and cook over medium heat until the raspberries begin to break down and become liquid. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, then strain through a sieve into a small saucepan and reduce until thick and syrupy.

11. Once the cake has cooled, unroll it from the kitchen towel and remove the parchment paper. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the interior of the cake and sprinkle the raspberries. Roll the roulade snugly once again, making sure to tuck in the raspberries as you go along. It may seem like not all of them will fit, but continue to tuck the fruits in generously as you go and they will. Place the roulade on a tray or platter and sprinkle some confectioners’ sugar over it. Refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 30 minutes.

12. To serve, cut the roll into nine slices and serve with some raspberry sauce.

I've made this before and it's good.

Sunshine Cake
16 servings, 3 Weight Watcher points per serving

1 box yellow cake mix
1/4 cup applesauce
4 eggs
11 oz mandarin oranges (with juice)

frosting
8 oz light cool whip
3.4 oz instant vanilla pudding
15 oz crushed pineapple (with juice)

Stir first 4 ingredients, Beat 2 minutes
Pour in a sprayed 15x9 pan
Bake @ 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes then cool
mix frosting ingredients and pour on top
keep refrigerated

bump

You can also sub applesauce for oil

When I was on Weight Watchers years ago we always had a standby cake recipe

1 box cake of your choice
1 can of diet soda - your choice

Many liked to do lemon cake with diet 7 up or a chocolate cake with diet dr pepper for that red velvet type. There are also recipes where you can substitute oils for applesauce or smashed bananas. I do this with great results.

I dont know if you are on Pinterest, but there are a ton of photos and low cal low fat style cake recipes there.

Do a cupcake cake and then the portion is controlled as well. Cupcakes are all the rage right now. I've seen them where they are shaped and frosted together to look like a cake but then everyone just graps one cupcake. www.skinnytaste.com has many cupcake recipies that are great and healthy. She uses applesauce and even pumpkin with cake mixes and I've made some of these for office events. They are wonderful. You could turn her cupcakes into a full cake as well and they would be yummy.

Here's the recipe you are referring to: http://www.recapo.com/the-doctors/the-doctors-diet/the-doctors-chef-chloes-healthier-chocolate-cake-recipe/

Chef Chloe’s Chocolate Cake Recipe

3 cups flour
⅔ cup Cocoa Powder
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 ½ c. water
1 ⅔ c. Agave
1 c. Canola Oil
¼ c. Vinegar
1 tbsp. Vanilla

1.Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2.Add the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.
3.Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
4.Enjoy your guilt-free chocolate cake.

This recipe has just 200 calories and 9 grams of fat per serving.

This sounds perfect! I'm keeping it for my birthday! Thanks for posting!

I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners or cakes where the fat has been replaced with applesauce. I like a real cake! I make a lot of simple unfrosted cakes that end up being less than 200 calories per slice. A couple days ago I cut the recipe for Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" cake in half, used walnut oil instead of vegetable oil, almond milk instead of milk, and added 1/2 cup each of mini chocolate chips and ground walnuts. When the cake was cool I gave it a thick coat of powdered sugar and cut it into 16 slices-- the cake is so chocolatey and rich that 1/16th of a 9" round cake is immensely satisfying. When I put the ingredients into MFP each slice came to only 181 calories.

okay - here were two - they are the only two cakes my kids ever want!

Crock pot - mix boxed choc cake mix, pkg sugar free chocolate pudding, 1 c applesauce, 1 c fat free sour cream, 1 c. egg beaters, 1 c water, 3/4 c chocolate chips. Stir and cook on low 6 hours or so....is like a fudgey molten lava cake. I use frozen light cool whip instead of ice cream, but light ice cream would work too!

Dreamsicle Cake (sugar free, diabetic approved) one boxed orange cake mix, made per directions (i use applesauce instead of oil and eggbeaters). Let cool in pan, poke full of holes with a fork. One pkg sugar free orange jello with 1/2 c hot water, 1/2 c cold water. Pour over cake, letting sink in. For frosting: one pkg sugar free vanilla pudding with 1 c cold skim milk. Whisk till thickened, fold in one tup of light cool whip. The cake is fabulous, we use it at all functions in the community to offer dessert to the diabetics.......except even the non-diabetics love it! lol